Chapter 18: His Name Was Harry
He reminded Henry of James Bond.
That was his first thought about Harry French. He wondered about the accent. Belle's sounded Australian, but Harry had an actual British accent. Never mind, there were stranger things in the town.
Plus, he sort of was stuck starring at Harry's eyes. They were so gold. Henry had never seen eyes that color. Breathtaking really.
And that messy hair.
Henry could feel himself blushing.
He tried to hold it back. He did that a lot. No reason to freak Harry out, he just wanted to be his friend.
Which was a little hard since Harry's mother was hovering over him and he noticed Harry's eyes kept going towards her chest.
That was so messed up.
How could he look at his mom's boobs? Then again, Henry had seen stranger things and why should he judge.
Besides, most boys his age were fascinated with boobs.
Save for Henry.
He sighed heavily as he tried to talk to Harry about Storybrooke. Not the whole version though. He didn't have to describe everyone's back-story like he did with Emma, which was one nice thing.
Seriously, when was Belle going to go away?
She seemed almost nervous that Henry was there talking to Harry. Not that they talked about much other than the fact they had both been reading Sherlock Holmes.
Yes, Harry sort of looked like a miniature version of Henry Cavill if Cavill had gold colored eyes and dark brown hair and smirked all the time.
God, that reminded him of his mom.
Except he was Belle's son.
But he didn't look that much like Belle except he was short and had brown hair.
But everyone had brown hair.
Well, the majority of the population. Emma's hair was blonde.
Belle finally did leave though. After she had made sure that Harry was okay. Apparently, he had been injured a few nights past. Belle shot Henry a look not to probe, but that's fully what Henry intended.
"So, Belle's your mom." He said after the librarian's shoes clicked away.
Harry shrugged. "I guess so."
"Who's your dad? Emma said it wasn't Gold."
"Sort of insensitive, don't you think?"
It sort of was. But Henry couldn't help himself. "Well, you have to wonder. I mean, Belle and Gold are attached at the hip. Is he like your dad?"
Harry shrugged. "I guess."
There was more to the story, but Henry treaded lightly. That's what a good detective would do.
"Where were you during the curse?" Yeah, another pointed question. But it was another obvious one.
Harry raised his eyebrows for a second as if he was confused about what curse Henry was talking about. But how could you be confused about the curse, it had ruined everyone's life for twenty-eight years as Grandma and Grandpa Charming could testify to.
"It's okay if you don't want to talk about it." Henry said, "I know my mom's hurt a lot of people."
"Regina?" Harry said, "Regina is your mom, right?"
"You know her by her first name?" Henry asked. "Most people call her Madam Mayor or the Evil Queen."
"Evil Queen?" Harry asked.
Okay, something was up.
How could he not know Regina was the Evil Queen? When he asked him Harry just shrugged. "She seems nice enough to me."
"She locked your mother in a dungeon." Henry said. "I can only imagine what she did to you."
"Regina locked Belle in a dungeon?"
"And an asylum for twenty-eight years. I'm surprised Mr. Gold didn't kill her."
Well, he almost did. But he did relent. Mainly because Belle had given him the old Evil eye, but there was no need to bring that up to Harry. Must be creepy enough living with Gold as it was.
Which was why he decided to lighten the mood by asking if Mr. Gold slept in a suit.
Hey, it was a relevant question.
Harry rolled his eyes though before he chuckled.
"So, I did make you smile?" Henry said. "I'm not outright traumatizing you?"
Harry shook his head, "He does sleep in a suit, I think."
"Better than the leather pants though, huh? I mean, it had to freak you out when you grew up in The Enchanted Forest."
"Leather pants?" Harry said. "Seriously."
"Yeah," Henry said. "Rumpelstiltskin used to wear leather pants."
"Rumpelstiltskin?"
"You sort of forget that he used to have that ridiculous name when everyone calls him Gold around here. But yes, Rumpelstiltskin, the Dark One."
"The guy who steals babies?"
"Man, do you leave a sheltered life. Either that or you are a really good actor."
"I have to go." Harry said abruptly.
"Um, didn't your mom say you had to stay in the library."
"I have to shelve things." Harry said before darting away.
Henry shrugged. He didn't know what he said. Honestly, he felt clueless. Actually, he felt a lot like Emma he would guess because the expression on his face after Harry blared away from him was sort of similar.
The library wasn't fun without a James Bond look-alike. Which was why he decided to go to Granny's early.
He knew he wasn't suppose to meet her until later in the day, but he could really use one of Granny's hot chocolates. Especially since he could no longer stare at Harry's butt.
God, he was as awful as those girls in his class who were always oogling over a guys butt.
Though, he didn't stare at his mothers' breasts that was something. And he would reiterate that that wasn't normal.
However, Henry suspected that there was something more to Belle and Harry's relationship than Emma had uncovered.
And he was determined to find out, but right now he had to prepare for Operation Reunification.
Was his hand in a lot of pies or what?
This pie wasn't a very tasty one and really Henry didn't know what to think about it.
"Henry?"
He looked up and smiled. "Alice?"
It was their code word. She couldn't exactly come to Granny's without being in a disguise.
"Yes?" The toothy blonde said.
The magic she used amazed him. He should be used to magic by now. His mom used it all the time. Emma could use it too, when she wasn't concentrated on important things like writing parking tickets and looking at Hook's butt. Well, never mind, Emma really couldn't use magic.
Except if he was unconscious. And since he didn't exactly get to witness that…
That was it!
The sleeping curse. It explained everything about Harry's confusion. Though, you think his mother would've given him a clue when he woke up.
But admittedly Belle had been busy.
"Henry?" His friend said noticing that he went off into Henry Detective La La Land.
"Sorry," Henry said. "I was just thinking about a friend."
"Anyone special?" Alice teased.
Henry shook his head and blushed.
"Oh, come on."
"That's not why we're here." He said. "I want to talk about the other night when you hurt Mom."
Yeah, he just came out and said it to her. Why not? Granny's was the perfect place. And he wanted to here the truth.
Alice raised an eyebrow, "I did not hurt Regina."
"That's not what she and Harry are claiming." Henry countered.
"Why would you believe this Harry?" Alice or should he say grandma said. "And you know what I said about your mother. Regina is starving for attention."
Henry sighed. He knew that that was the truth. You couldn't argue it. He saw the way that Regina looked at him the other day. Attention starved didn't even begin to describe how his mother was feeling right now.
Though, he just couldn't help but believe her to some degree. Maybe it was the big bruise he saw on her head when he had dinner with her the other day or how his grandmother was slightly creepy.
But the way Cora talked to him, well, Henry was going to try to give her a chance.
He had to wonder was Regina bruised? And what about Harry, Henry didn't see a reason for him to lie.
Grandma of course had an explanation, "Honestly, Henry, why would I lie? And why would I hurt your mother and Harry?"
"I don't know."
"No, you don't." Cora said as she took a sip of coffee and spit it out. "This stuff is horrible. Really, someone should have the owner's head."
"A little harsh, don't you think?"
"It's an expression." Cora said. "I wasn't actually going to take Granny's head, but this coffee is terrible. Really, a step down from the Enchanted Forest."
"They had coffee in the Enchanted Forest?"
"Of course they did, Henry. The place had magic. It shouldn't surprise me that this land doesn't have a decent cup of espresso. This is the so called land without magic after all."
"It's not totally without magic."
Cora shrugged. "True. But the coffee still tastes like crap. Now let's talk about Project Reunification shall we?"
Henry sighed. He didn't want to tell his grandmother how little progress he made with Project Reunification. So, little that he wondered if it was possible.
Of course it was possible, nothing was impossible.
However, reuniting his grandma with his mom that might be a little difficult.
A part of him wondered why he agreed to help Cora. It seemed so right last night, but now…Henry wasn't sure.
While Cora's usual regal demeanor was hidden behind the cheery veneer of a peasant named Alice, he could almost see the calculating look of the woman. He saw the same look the other night, but he had also felt the pain the woman felt from losing her daughter. It reminded Henry the pain he saw on his own mother's face.
And he wanted to help her out, because he couldn't help his own mom. He couldn't forgive her, not yet.
He wanted Regina to be happy though, and maybe Cora could bring some happiness.
He knew how it felt to want a mother.
However, the more Henry was around Cora the more he wondered if he had made the right choice.
The woman was nothing like his mom. While Regina was hard, sometimes crass, there seemed to be some sort of warmth to her. A warmth that Cora didn't have.
She didn't want to know anything about Henry. Just about Project Reunification. If he tried to talk about something else, she quickly changed it back to Project Reunification.
She didn't ask him a single thing about himself, or about how he was adjusting to all of this. All she wanted to do was talk about the project and Harry.
She seemed very interested in Harry, and not for the same reasons that Henry was interested in the boy.
Cora didn't wax on about Harry's odd color eyes or imagine him in leather pants (at least not that Henry knew of—though he personally thought Harry would look better in a tuxedo than leather pants, but that was just to add to the whole James Bond image). Instead, she was interested in the boy's origins.
"He told me his name was Draco. Do you have any idea why the boy would lie to me, darling?"
Henry shrugged. Probably because Cora could be pretty intimidating.
"Surely, you have more of an answer than a shrug."
"I barely know Harry," Henry said. "I think Mom had him under a sleeping spell during the curse."
"Interesting." Cora said. "Why would Regina do that?"
"Probably because his mother's Mr. Gold's girlfriend. They have a rivalry of some sorts."
"Gold that's Rumple' s name here, isn't it?"
Henry rolled his eyes. "Yeah. I still can't believe he's Rumpelstiltskin though. I never thought that guy was scary. Well, in the non-Storybrooke version."
"Gold isn't scary." Cora smirked. "When he's handled properly. I didn't know he had a girlfriend though."
She seemed really interested in this information. Why, Henry didn't know. He really didn't think I was a big deal. Everyone in town knew about Belle and Gold, mainly because Moe French had gotten drunk at the Rabbit Hole and lamented how his little girl had fallen with the devil.
Being a child, Henry was not supposed to know that. But you pretty much found out everything in town if you ordered enough cups of hot chocolate at Granny's.
Cora was bemused. "Well, is Harry Gold's?"
Henry snorted. "No. Thank God. Can you imagine Gold having a kid?"
A look came over Cora's or should he say Alice's face for a brief second. It was so faint that if you blinked you would've missed it. It was as if Henry's comment bothered her somehow, but she didn't say anything other than, "That would be an unpleasant thought. But imagine the power."
At this Henry rolled his eyes.
"Seriously, darling." Cora said. "You need to get a little more ambitious. If you don't start having aspirations, you'll never get anywhere in life. Look at that birthmother of yours."
"Emma's sheriff." Henry countered.
This caused Cora to laugh. "Yes, to a small Podunk town. That's not ambition, Henry. At least Regina became mayor in this sad little curse of hers."
He looked at Cora. "Really?
Cora sighed. "I guess this is enough for today. I really hope we have some progress the next time we talk. I really hope we don't have to alter our plan."
Henry shrugged. "I'm sure we'll figure something out."
"Oh, I'm sure." Cora said. "Regina and I will talk one way or the other."